Pheasant's Eye
by hAde
Summary: When he was five years old, Shiraishi met another boy his age with navy blue hair, who gave him a red flower. Years later, Shiraishi brings his team to Rikkai Dai for practice matches, where Rikkai Dai captain Yukimura invited him to visit the school's garden. There, Shiraishi unexpectedly sees the familiar red flower long forgotten.
1. Fresh Grass After the Spring Rain

**A/N: Oh, it has been years since I wrote something that isn't a term paper for university! I'm trying my hand on this because I'm thirsting for some Shiraishi-Yukimura lovin'. *wink***

**Undying Disclaimer: All characters belong to Takeshi Konomi.**

**Pheasant's Eye**

He sat there, on a wooden bench in a nearby park, as the soft, warm rays of the afternoon sun reflected off his light brown hair. His mother and younger sister were shopping in the adjacent mall but the little boy was tired. He enjoyed buying new supplies for school but his little sister was extra whiny today. Shiraishi didn't feel like getting dragged as his mom took them from one store to another just to find the perfect black leather shoes to go with their uniform. So he politely took off his leave with the promise that he would be sitting quietly in the park, waiting for their shopping to be finished.

As young as three years old, Shiraishi Kuranosuke had shown a talent for tennis, which his father promptly encouraged. He bought his son all the necessary equipment – a racket, the proper shoes, tennis balls. Shiraishi enjoyed the sport so much he wanted to always have something related to tennis with him. And so, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ball as he climbed onto the wooden bench. He let his legs dangle off from his seat and began dribbling the ball on the soft grass below him. His tiny hand cupped the ball swiftly every time it bounced back up.

For a while, Shiraishi was contented playing with the tennis ball like that in a calm, quiet garden. But a small buzz passed by his ear and his head swivelled to follow the sound. His eyes landed on a potted orchid to the side of the wooden bench. On one of its leaves perched a bright brown beetle. Shiraishi's eyes widened with excitement as he jumped from the bench. Momentarily forgetting about the tennis ball he was dribbling, he ran over to where the beetle was.

He reached over with his hand, intending to gently catch the creature in his palm. But with one twitch, the beetle jumped to a flight and Shiraishi could do no more but follow the beetle with his eyes until he could no longer see where it went to next.

"Ahh, too bad. He could've been my pet," Shiraishi sighed, walking back to his seat. He stopped in his tracks as he realized that his tennis ball had rolled off elsewhere. Shiraishi looked around, wondering where the ball might be. He crouched down on his knees to check the underside of the bench but the ball wasn't there. He heard a soft chuckle behind him. Shiraishi turned.

Another boy stood a few feet from him. He was holding a flower in his left hand and on his right was Shiraishi's ball. Shiraishi stared at the navy-haired boy. He couldn't be much older than five – perhaps they were of the same age. There was laughter playing in the other boy's eyes and his face wore a gentle expression. Shiraishi decided to speak to him.

"Hi," he began. "I think you have something that belongs to me."

"This one?" The other boy asked, lifting the tennis ball towards him.

"Yes," came Shiraishi's soft reply and he took a step forward. But the other boy retreated his hand behind his back.

"I like it. The colour reminds me of fresh grass after the spring rain."

"But you can't keep it. It's mine!" Shiraishi retaliated, his hands balling themselves into fists.

The other boy merely smiled. He walked over to where Shiraishi stood. "I'll give you something in exchange," he said, and he pressed the flower he was holding onto Shiraishi's chest.

Shiraishi stared at the flower. It had deep red petals that softly curved over the centre. He took it in his hand and examined it closer. "It's beautiful..."

"It's special," the other boy agreed.

A woman came behind them. "Seii?" She called out and the navy-haired boy turned to her. She nodded at him as if to say, "Come on."

The navy-haired boy turned to Shiraishi. "Take care of the flower," he said, and leaned in to peck a quick kiss on Shiraishi's cheek. He turned on his heels and ran towards his mother.

Shiraishi was still staring at their retreating forms when he heard someone calling him.

"Suke...Kuranosuke!"

"Mother!" Shiraishi replied, turning to the voice.

"Suke, we're done shopping. Let's head home now. Your father's waiting."

After dinner, Shiraishi went to his room and gazed at the flower he placed on his desk. He touched the petals ever so carefully, afraid that a slight force would break through the tender, velvety smoothness of the flower.

Moments later, his sister was knocking on his door and making her way towards his bed. "Nii-chan, what are going to do with that flower?"

"I'm going to keep it forever."

"You can't. Mom said it'll wither."

Shiraishi's eyes widened with worry at what his sister said. "I don't want to lose this flower!"

Shiraishi's eyes filled with tears as he got up and ran to his dad. "Dad! Dad! Save this flower!" His father sat him on his lap and looked at his son's sincere expression.

"What's wrong, Suke?"

"I don't want this flower to wither."

"Don't worry," his dad smiled. "We can always get you another one. Maybe buy you a pot and you can take care of your own plant."

"But that's not the same! That won't be this flower anymore."

"Why does it have to be that very flower, Suke?"

"It's from a friend."

"Which friend?"

Shiraishi was silent for a moment. "Seii. Yes, I think his name's Seii."

His dad went over and picked up a thick book. He opened it in the middle and told Suke to put the flower there.

"But you're going to snap the book shut and that will crush the lovely petals," Shiraishi protested.

"Yes but it will keep the flower in form even for years, Suke."

"But won't that break the flower?"

"Sometimes, things break so they can learn to endure."

Shiraishi didn't exactly understand what his dad meant but Shiraishi trusted enough to put the flower between the pages of the thick book. His dad handed the book to him and told him that Shiraishi could keep it in his room so the flower could be closer to him. Shiraishi took the book and placed it inside his drawer and the flower remained there for years until it was forgotten.


	2. Adonis amurensis

**A/N: Oh, it has been years since I wrote something that isn't a term paper for university! I'm trying my hand on this because I'm thirsting for some Shiraishi-Yukimura lovin'. *wink***

**Undying Disclaimer: All characters belong to Takeshi Konomi.**

**Pheasant's Eye**

The morning sun shone brightly that day as Shiraishi, captain of the Shitenhouji tennis club, gathered his team on the courts.

"Good morning, everyone! Today we are going to take the train to Kanagawa. I have arranged practice matches between us and Rikkai Dai's regulars. This will be a good chance for all of us to improve our game."

The Shitenhouji team cheered and Kintaro said, "I want to have a match with Kirihara, buchou!"

"I'm sure we can do something about that, Kin-chan. I will speak to Rikkai Dai's captain about it," Shiraishi smiled at his energetic rookie.

The Shitenhouji team rode the train and a few hours later, they were standing on the tennis courts of Rikkai Dai. It was almost 12 noon when Shitenhouji arrived. Both teams agreed it would be wise to have lunch first so the members of Shitenhouji could also get some rest.

"Yukimura-kun?" Shiraishi called when he saw the Rikkai Dai captain enter. "I wanted to speak to you about the arrangements for the match."

"Ah, yes. We can arrange them inside." Yukimura replied and led Shiraishi to one of the third year class rooms on the upper floors.

Shiraishi watched as the gentle-mannered captain adjusted the band around his forehead and took to his heels, with his regulars' jacket hanging on his shoulders and the hem flapping against the wind.

It took them a few minutes to decide the order of the matches and Shiraishi repeated Kintaro's request to have a game with Kirihara.

Yukimura smiled and scribbled the names on a piece of paper. He straightened up and showed the final list to Shiraishi. "Everyone accounted for?"

Shiraishi glanced over the list. "Yes, the line-up's nicely done."

"We have some time before the practice starts. Since you're here, I thought I'd show you around the school. I heard from Oshitari-kun that you're interested in plants as well. We even have a rooftop garden!"

"Rooftop garden?" Shiraishi repeated.

"Yes, I'm in charge of the plants there."

"I'm interested to see it, then."

The two captains came up to the garden and Yukimura led Shiraishi between the many flower pots and flowerbeds.

"This one's Belladonna," Yukimura stated, pointing over to a line of flowers with bright blue and pink petals.

"This one has poisonous roots, right?" Shiraishi said as he lightly ran his fingers along the petals.

"The Indian Oleander is over here," Yukimura continued, moving over to the pots that held the flower with white and soft violet petals.

"It has poison that causes rashes, right?" Shiraishi asked.

Yukimura locked his blue eyes onto Shiraishi's cool brown ones. "You do know a lot. I'm impressed."

Shiraishi grinned at Yukimura in response and two moved on to the next flowerbed. "You know, Yukimura, I became interested in plants when I was five."

"That's quite a young age, Shiraishi-kun."

Both of them knelt down beside the flowerbed. A cool wind blew and the flowers danced along. A comfortable silence passed between the two of them.

Yukimura reached out to touch a deep red petal. "When I was sick, the flowerbed in my garden completely died out. I never felt so broken than when I was in the hospital." Yukimura sighed and shifted his blue eyes onto the flowering plants.

Shiraishi could tell that Yukimura hated talking about his ordeal at the hospital. He cautiously, carefully moved his hand and placed it over the other captain's.

"Yukimura, sometimes, we have to break so we can learn to endure."

Yukimura was a little surprised by the gesture. He looked up at Shiraishi and noticed that from the other's position, his hair caught the sun in all the right places enough to give the strands a silvery glow. Yukimura smiled and touched Shiraishi's tresses.

"Your hair reminds of one time long ago," Yukimura started, "I came to like tennis because of a little boy I met once."

Shiraishi chuckled. This little walk in the garden was starting to bring out some childhood stories. Another cool wind blew and the flowers moved under their fingertips. Yukimura looked down at the flowerbed and said, "Look at this. Even Pheasant's Eye blooms in spring."

"Pheasant's Eye?" Shiraishi looked down at the flowers and stopped. They were deep red, with the velvety petals curving towards the centre. He recognized this flower; he knew it from long ago.

"Raising it is a hassle," Yukimura continued, "If you water it too much, it will shrivel."

"It's special," Shiraishi said, his voice barely above a whisper. He turned to gaze intently at the other captain beside him. He had that navy blue hair, those blue eyes...

"The Pheasant's Eye's scientific name is _Adonis amurensis_. In the Greek legends, Adonis was a young man loved by Aphrodite – goddess of love and beauty. When Adonis was killed by another goddess in a fit of jealous rage, Aphrodite dyed the flower red with his blood."

After his narration, Yukimura was even more surprised to see Shiraishi fixedly looking at him.

"Shiraishi-kun? We might as well head back downstairs. Practice will start soon." Yukimura stood up, unsure of how to react to that handsome face watching his every move.

Shiraishi slowly got to his feet. "You're him," he breathed.

"What do you mean?"

"It's you, the kid I met from a long time ago. Seii...Seiichi. Yukimura Seiichi."

It wasn't like Yukimura to blush so he bowed his head a little, avoiding Shiraishi's eyes. "Shiraishi-kun, I'm surprised it took you quite a while to remember."

"You knew it all this time?" Shiraishi asked, taking one step closer to where Yukimura stood.

"I had a feeling it was you when I first saw you in the Nationals. With those distinctly soft brown locks of yours, you had to be that little boy in the park."

"I believe you have something that is mine," Shiraishi said, taking the last step that closed the distance between him and Yukimura.

"The tennis ball from long ago?" Yukimura faced him with his eyebrows raised, an amused expression playing on his face.

"No," Shiraishi smirked, ever so seductively. "I meant my heart."

And with that, the gap between their faces closed as their lips met in a tender kiss.

**END**

**P.S. Some parts of their conversation in the rooftop garden were taken from Pair Puri episode 5.**


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